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Ethel Kennedy
Ethel Skakel Kennedy ( Chicago ( Illinois ), April 11 1928 ) is the widow of American politician Robert F. Kennedy . She belongs to the prominent Kennedy family . Content [ hide ] *1 Youth *2 Marriage *3 Death of Robert Kennedy *4 Recent years Youth [ edit ] Ethel Skakel was born in Chicago on April 11, 1928 as the child of Ann Brannack, a Roman Catholic of Irish descent, and George Skakel, a Protestant of Dutch descent. Ethel was raised a Catholic in Greenwich (Connecticut) . Her father was the founder of the highly successful Great Lakes Carbon Corporation, now part of SGL Carbon. She went to school for girls Greenwich Academy in Greenwich and at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, operator also a girls' school in Manhattan . In September 1945 Ethel went to study at Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart (then located in Manhattan), where she became friends with her roommate Jean Kennedy . Skakel later married Jean's brother, Robert F. Kennedy . Marriage [ Edit ] Ethel met Robert F. Kennedy during a ski trip to Mont Tremblant Resort in Quebec in the winter of 1945. At that time Robert was dating Ethel's sister Patricia. That relationship ended and Ethel and Robert started seeing each other. More Robert and Ethel became engaged in February 1950 and were married on June 17, 1950 in St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greenwich . Ethel and Bobby moved to Charlottesville in Virginia. Their first child, Kathleen , was born on July 4, 1951. After Robert graduated in law, the family settled in Washington DC and Robert went to work for the Ministry of Justice . That did not last long, soon after Robert was asked by his family to his brother John F. Kennedy 's successful campaign for the Senate to lead in Massachusetts . During the 1950s Robert worked for the federal government in research roles for the Permanent Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Government along with the anti-communist Senator Joseph McCarthy , and as the principal counsel for the Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in Labor and Management. In 1956, the Kennedys purchased Hickory Hill''from his brother John and his wife Jacqueline . They needed a bigger house, because Ethel was pregnant with their fifth child. This huge house with 13 bedrooms and 13 bathrooms, stood on a plot of 24,000 m² in McLean , Virginia. Death of Robert Kennedy [ Edit ] Just after midnight on June 5, 1968 Robert Kennedy was shot by Sirhan Sirhan , he died 26 hours later. Ethel and her 10 children (Rory, the 11th, was born later that year) were severely affected. President Lyndon B. Johnson called the next day to national day of mourning. In 1969, Sirhan was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. In 1972, the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment after the Supreme Court of California had declared. the then existing death penalty invalid After the Kennedy assassination remained publicly declare that she would never marry. She continued to live in ''Hickory Hill until December 2009, when it was sold for dollars. 8.25 million Recent years [ edit ] During the Democratic Party presidential primaries in 2008, Ethel supported Barack Obama as her children Max and Rory . [1] Three of her children, Kathleen , Robert Jr. and Kerry spoke support for Senator Hillary Clinton . After the death of her brother Ted , she was one of the principal mourners at the public funeral on August 29, 2009. Category:1928 births